More In Your Life

'Miracle beagle' among finalists for hero dog award

Posted: Jul. 24, 2012 12:35 am Updated: Jul. 24, 2012 10:12 am

HERALD STAFF REPORT

Daniel, a year-and-a-half-old beagle-fox-hound mix, known as the "miracle beagle" is one of eight finalists in the 2012 American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards. Voting for the award continues through Oct. 5 online at herodogawards.org.

The Hero Dog Awards were created last year by the American Humane Association to celebrate the devoted relationship between dogs and people.

The national competition searches out and recognizes America's Hero Dogs — often ordinary dogs who do extraordinary things. Dogs compete in eight categories for the Hero Dog Awards: Law Enforcement and Arson Dogs, Service Dogs, Therapy Dogs, Military Dogs, Guide Dogs, Search and Rescue Dogs, Hearing Dogs and Emerging Hero Dogs (the category for "ordinary" dogs).

Daniel has won the Emergency Hero Dogs category. The American Humane Association donated $5,000 to a charity for each of the eight finalists, each of which won in one of the eight categories.

Daniel's charity is the Pine Street Foundation, his owner, Joe Dwyer Jr., said Monday. The mission of the nonprofit founded in 1989 is to help people with cancer reach more informed treatment decisions, according to its website. The group is also doing research in canine scent detection, where it has trained dogs to identify the smell of breast and lung

cancer on patients' breath.

Daniel and the other finalists will be at the American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on Oct. 6, at which the winning American Hero Dog will be announced. The Hero Dog Award winner will receive an additional $10,000 donation for its designated charity.

The winner will be chosen based on combined votes from a celebrity panel and from the public.

"Daniel has already seen one miracle, and survived an animal shelter gas chamber, so the odds of 7 to 1 don't seem insurmountable," said Dwyer, of Nutley. "It would be a great way to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his miraculous escape from the worst possible fate and addition to our family."

Daniel was found in Alabama as a stray dog in October. He was in a shelter in Alabama for four days before he was put into a gas chamber with an estimated 18 other dogs for 20 to 30 minutes to be euthanized.

Daniel beat the odds and was the only dog to survive the gas chamber. He soon became famous in the media, and was subsequently adopted by Dwyer.

There are no proven facts on how Daniel survived the gas, but there are theories that Daniel may have caught an air pocket in the chamber, or he was able to position himself above the dense gas that stayed low to the ground.

Daniel and Dwyer, an animal advocate, have worked to end the use of group gas chambers in kill shelters since the beagle's unexpected survival and adoption.

Daniel is the chief "spokesdog" for abolishing animal gas chambers in legislation called "Daniel's Law," which is under consideration in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

A book "Daniel the Miracle Beagle", telling about Daniel's survival, was published in June. A children's book about his life and cause is scheduled to hit stores in October.

Television crews will spend two days with Daniel and his family to present his story during the awards show.

Last year's top American Hero Dog was Roselle, a guide dog who led her blind master safely down 78 flights of stairs following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.